Republicans, Democrats continue to differ sharply on voting access

A new Pew Research Center survey finds 59% of Americans say any voter should be able to cast a ballot early or absentee without providing a reason, but the issue continues to divide sharply along partisan lines [1]. Eighty-one percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents support no-excuse early or absentee voting, while 66% of Republicans and GOP leaners say such methods should be reserved for those who have a documented reason for not voting in person on Election Day [1]. The gap has widened since 2018, when a 57% majority of Republicans backed no-excuse voting; today that figure stands at 34% [1]. Democratic support has remained essentially flat, hovering around eight in ten over the same period [1]. Views also vary by where Americans live. In states that automatically mail ballots to all voters, 67% of adults favor no-excuse early or absentee voting, compared with 53% in states that require a valid excuse to vote by mail [1]. The pattern holds within both parties: 40% of Republicans in universal-mail-ballot states support the practice, versus 33% in states where an excuse is required [1]. The survey reveals demographic cleavages as well. Seventy-six percent of Black adults and 62% of Hispanic adults say any voter should have the option to vote early or absentee without an excuse, compared with 55% of White adults [1]. Americans with at least a bachelor’s degree are more likely than those with less education to favor no-excuse voting — 66% versus 53% among those with a high school diploma or less [1]. On the related question of election security, 58% of Americans said changing rules to make registration and voting easier would not make elections less secure, while 40% said it would [1]. The partisan split is again stark: 79% of Democrats and Democratic leaners said such changes would not undermine security, while 63% of Republicans and GOP leaners said they would [1]. The findings land amid a broader national debate over voting rules that intensified after the 2020 presidential election, when a record number of ballots were cast early and by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic [5]. Thirty-eight states saw more than half of all votes cast via early or mail methods that year, and only three states had fewer than 25% [5]. The post-2020 period also saw Republican-controlled legislatures in several states tighten voting laws, while Democratic-led states expanded mail-in and early voting access [1]. Redistricting practices add another layer to the access debate. Since 2010, detailed mapping software and high-speed computing have enabled political parties to gerrymander district lines with greater precision, potentially locking in legislative control for a decade or more even as a state’s population shifts politically [4]. The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering claims are not reviewable by federal courts, leaving the issue to state legislatures and commissions [4].